The Adventurous World of Minecraftia
by Bridgebuilder
Summary: Our story follows the adventures and exploits of a group of five friends in a world of magic, danger around the majority of the world's corners, and unexpected occurrences. Rated T to be safe, possible language and slightly descriptive violence. Please read and review!
1. Chapter 1: Extreme Disappointment

Chapter 1

**Author's Note (A/N): Howdy ya'll! Thank you very much for giving my first fanfic the time of day. Though the beginning chapters are relatively short, I do expect to be updating twice a week with decently sized chapters. I am not entirely sure of the average length that chapters tend to be on this site, but I say that the message can be conveyed just as easily without too much fluff! Also folks, I would really recommend reading all of the chapters. There will more than likely be holes to be filled by reading the rest of them, given that a huge gap occurred in readings of 6-9.**

"It would appear that we have reached an impasse."

These words reached across the Crude Caverns with a harsh echo. The look on Balthazor's face encompassed his thoughts perfectly; that is, he was EXTREMELY disappointed. This being lying on the table in front of him was beginning to really make its mark upon his nerves, he and Gribbles had devoted so much time to finishing up this lanky figure, that neither realized that their game of creation would be inevitably delayed until Bailey returned with the final piece to this "God Game" puzzle.

"What's eating you?"

This comment, though also carrying the echo of the cavern system, lacked the rash tone of Balthazor. Instead, it carried a vibe of curiosity; not to say that it lacked sarcasm, but it was still more welcoming altogether.

"You should know what is 'eating' me, what else could it be? The wyverns do not have enough confidence in themselves to nip me, let alone try to eat me."

This last comment stung under Gribbles' skin; he hated when Balthazor did that. Finally coming into vision, his timber wolf friend adjusted his rapier as to not risk injury, whether to he or this mechanical monstrosity in his line of sight.

"So, what's the status on this metal plank we're referring to as our greatest invention?"

"There won't be any advancement until Bailey returns with the heart, I just hope he hasn't slipped and got his throat cut."

Gribbles also hated when Balthazor did _this_. Worrying, or appearing to worry, when it is least necessary, and having the utmost confidence when the world could be crumbling around him.

"I'm fairly certain between the training that you have given him, and the tools that he's made, he'll be fine. Just so long, of course, as he doesn't bring along a haunt of ghasts."

At this instant, the duo heard the familiar sounds of their nether portal gurgling someone back out. They peered behind their shoulders as to get a shot of who was returning to the over world. A sigh of relief was released from the two as a familiar face emerged through the purple.


	2. Chapter 2: Bionics, Tigers, and Magic

Chapter 2

Bailey took a stumbling step as he exited the Nether Portal. Gribbles and Balthazor saw fungal spores fly off of him as he landed, so he must have gone through a lot of nether wart to find that heart.

"So, you're back, did you get it?"

Balthazor said this almost expectantly, as if a prerequisite for Bailey's arrival was that he brought back this so sought after heart.

"Yes, yes I did. I had to kill a lot of nightmares to find this thing, and their Pigmen did not enjoy it too much. Here ya go." The heart felt dry and porous, something similar to that of a sponge.

"Now, before the rest of the blood from this thing drains, we need to get it inside of the machine. Otherwise, Bailey is going to have to make another Nether run, and I don't think that he will be too keen on that."

Gribbles talked as he walked, navigating Balthazor's furniture to get to their operating table. On this table, recumbent on its back, was what the boys were calling their "greatest invention yet"; a bionic Eldrich mechanism that they would be using for future missions. They had yet to decide what specification it would fall under, however it was expected that this project would turn out to be profitable when put in conjunction with their "exploding tiger" project, undergone just prior.

This project began as a simple genetic study. The boys had decided that for any ventures they would have, that they would certainly need a level of explosion resistance enough to withstand at minimum, that of a supercharged creeper. So, as this series of genetic splicing continued, their test subject had begun to undergo some innate changes. Their choice, a captured tiger, was slightly smaller than the average human; however, some change in its genes resulted in an EXPONENTIAL growth increase, the most recent measurement they had taken showed that he had grown to be 10'6" when he stood on his hind legs. The splicing also led to the ability to properly speak English, as well as efficiently walk up on his hind legs.

Gribbles placed the heart inside the idle machine's chest, leaving the rest of this process to Bailey and Balthazor. Leaving the room, Gribbles crossed the bridge connecting his own house with Balthazor's, to go check on their first experiment.

With the heart in place, the two begin work upon this skeleton of metal. They secure the heart and connect it to any vital portion of its body, granting sentience. Sentience, however, is useless so long as a being cannot function; accordingly, a final spark must be attached to truly make this being alive. Balthazor, reaching into his cape, pulls out an Eye of Ender. As he holds the sphere in his hand, an aura appears about him, giving the orb itself a glow and a light inside. This was the last bit of magic Balthazor truly had to spare without causing him potentially mortal injury, and in relieving himself of this last extra bit on energy, he sprouts his wings and the tail granted to him in his uncontrolled state.

Bailey's expression showed intense surprise and a slight hint of disgust at Balthazor's ability to withstand that bursting of skin, all for something that could be for show. Nevertheless, he withstood the uneasy stomach, and pressed onward with the operation. Though there was only one small action to take, this one was the most difficult of any they had done up until this point. To get the Eye of Ender inside the dip in this Compound of metal and magic, multiple locks and levers had to be adjusted and pulled, many of which he never knew had actually served a purpose here. Once he finally got it in, however, the rest took care of itself.


	3. Chapter 3: Playing Frankenstein

Chapter 3

With the Eye of Ender placed, the machine made a sudden jerk, as if a human had just gotten defibrillated. The metal had, in less than an instant, gone from being a horizontal line, to a parabolic shape. Amazing, how something that at one point had no signs of life could take on such a natural form. As the torso receded back into the table, a jolt of purple light came from the eye in the pectoral center of the Compound's chest; in the same instance, along the arms and legs appeared streaks of purple. As it traced down, the body parts came to life, twitching with newfound energy. Once the pinstripe came to the end of its extremities, the light raced back toward the eye, and up into the machine's true eyes.

A purple belonging to only the most extravagant of midnights then overtook the dark that used to be the creation's eyes. With this, it arose with an investigative gaze. It looked around the room, observing Bailey walking Balthazor over to chair to recuperate from the expense of energy required to make the Compound operational. It was at this point the adaptive AI of Compound deciphered the bio mechanics of walking, and processed how to go about them. Within the minute, the Compound was sauntering toward the two with the intent of also assisting in Balthazor's rest.

_With Gribbles_

He was able to hear growls as he approached home. It was assuredly lunch time, and he was certain Nick had already gotten to his meal. The smell of gunpowder reached his nostrils as he approached the door, verifying his previous thought. In his shelter was Nick, hunched over a pile of creeper carcasses. The floor under him had been reinforced with warded stone, as to prevent extended damage to Gribbles' home; the stone was placed not to protect the floor from creepers, rather than Nick himself.

Due to the experiments performed upon him, he has the capability to generate explosive force (he was also turned green for some reason, prolly cause of the creepers). Ben had also been able to teach him basic martial arts, of which Nick expanded upon as he grew.

When Gribbles entered, Nick had regarded him with nothing more than a nod. Though he was capable of communication, he wasn't exceptionally skilled at it. Just like Charlemagne of the rumored Humans, he had little ability to read and write. He was so preoccupied by his last remaining creeper; he paid no regard to Gribble's examination of him. His growth had been charted for the past few months, and though it was nothing to his 4 feet in 4 weeks change that had occurred about a month ago, he was still growing. The most notable change has been in his weight, as with his height, he has gained A LOT of poundage. It's been required that Gribbles create multiple new scales with Nick breaking them all. So far, the new max had been 400 pounds.

After exams, Nick was taken out of his cage to go see the new invention.

"So, what is this new dude gonna do for us?" Nick asked

"We're not entirely sure yet. I implanted some new adaptive AI into him, so he may accustom himself to one style over another. It would probably be most beneficial to us, however, if he became something of a jack of all trades."

"So, something to keep us from being too…specific, when we come to a point where we need someone to fill in the gaps."

"Precisely."


	4. Chapter 4: Faltering Existence

Chapter 4

Gribbles and Nick were both surprised to see the sudden change to Balthazor's body when they arrived.

"What the heck happened to you?" Nick asked.

Balthazor tried to respond to him, opening his mouth in reply, however no words could be formed. He begrudgingly sat back in his seat.

"We had to finish the creation, so Balthazor super-enchanted the eye of ender in the middle of its chest. In doing so, however, he exhausted the majority of his magic. It would appear that because of the lack of magic, he has sprouted wings and a tail. I would guess that this has something to do with him losing control of his body."

Bailey had a worried look on his face for the entire speech, and took several gazes at Balthazor to ensure he was ok. Besides the wings and tail, Balthazor's normally pale skin had taken on wrinkles like that of an elderly man. Before completely mastering magic, he would have had to leech off of their life by biting into their neck. Bailey hated the thought of how many animals, or people, had their lives taken to preserve Balthazor's.

The Compound had examined the new beings as they came into sight. The sword to the wolf being's side alerted him as to being an immediate threat. It wore body armor. Though Compound did not have any way of defending itself, or communicating with it efficiently, it was ready to use the little knowledge he had on movement to flee if the need was met. That tiger was a different story; it did not seem to pose any threat in the slightest, though its towering height was disheartening. However, there was something odd about it. Something about the skin composition of the being, as well as the green pigment, drew confusion to the AI and it was actually unable to evaluate anything about this….thing. Incapable of evaluation, no built in fight-or-flight response was capable of being executed, leaving only the option of staying in the situation until evaluations are readied.

"Well, do we know if he is going to be alright?" Gribbles asked.

"I would imagine so. To have made it through centuries of history, many of which were much more dangerous than the one we reside in, he shouldn't have too much trouble as long as no one deliberately tries to assassinate him."

The Compound was able to acknowledge subtleties in voice even without the ability to speak for itself. It recognized a bit of worry in the last statement. Assassinate. The word in itself seemed, only from this one mention, a word of much anxiety, woe, and trouble. If the ability was there to communicate with them, the process of learning the Minecraftian language would be a synch. Perhaps it could even aid them in ridding themselves of this "assassination".

Bailey began assessing, in detail, the fatigue put on to Balthazor when he charged the Eye of Ender in the center of The Machine's chest. Apart from the rapid wrinkling of skin, his arms grew frail, with the muscle beginning to droop like that of an elderly, once, bodybuilder. He seemed to also be…shrinking in front of him. This was the deciding factor that he was coming under the effects of rapid, century's worth, of aging. Bailey decided that he should not rely upon Gribbles and Nick for assistance in aiding Balthazor, for not only did neither of them possess the ability to masterfully use magic, they did not know enough about the events prior to make any helpful suggestions.

Magic was extremely plentiful in the world just up until the time when the group of four, at that time, had decided they needed to invent a fifth member of their crew. Up until this point, Bailey had never been able to get a purpose beyond "for future missions" from Balthazor, or anyone else for that matter. That is, up until this point. The group had always been reliant on everyone being in ship-shape conditions in order to complete any various tasks. Their "missions" varied from hard labor, to odd jobs, to contract killings, bodyguard work, etc. If any member were to fall behind, the group would fall behind, and that was simply not an option. The day The Machine was conceived, Bailey noted that Balthazor had spent a great deal of his day outside in isolation, rather than inside working with the group, or working with the group period. He had worked to hide several specimens of what were revealed to be magical flowers, generally known never to wilt. Well, they wilted, and that was what begun the whole project, a group of flowers.

For the next period of time, Balthazor seemed to be passively obsessing with these flowers, and their reason for finally choosing now to die. They were never supposed to, and the only thing keeping them alive was magic. The pieces, once deciphered, were easy to put together. If these 'immortal flowers" died, then what was keeping a being only immortal to time from succumbing to the same fate?

At first, this reason was infinitely selfish to Bailey, however once thought on the subject began to creep its way back into his mind, it really was the most selfless thing he has done for the group since "forming" it. By his living, the friends were able to stay together and live their lives to the best of their natural ability. However, the reason for why this thing was the cornerstone to his plan was beyond knowledge until just now. When the machine came to aid Balthazor, it never left, and Balthazor was beginning to regain his posture. The magic in the machine is linked to Balthazor through that orb of infinite power, made from the last amounts of magic able to be scrounged from him, and as long as The Compound was near him, he would be able to gradually recover, though it could take quite a while, it would be better than disintegrating from losing Father Time's game of hide and seek, a game meant to have been lost a long time ago.


	5. Chapter 5: Evil's Possibility

Chapter 5

A week had passed since Bailey's revelation, and in that time, Balthazor's condition has improved to a point of ambulance and speech. Though, even with this great recovery, it did not speak for all. The world around them, he had noticed, became much darker. The sky in daytime had become a much more bland blue, bordering on gray. They had noticed a sudden drop in temperature, though subtle, had taken the life of one of their wyvern. Many creatures had become frailer, malnourished due to loss of plant life and loss of quality in prey. Something had to change, and fast.

Balthazor had gone to his study, cleverly hidden within his home to refer to ancient texts so long forgotten that their names could not be recollected. Perhaps, he thought, an issue in history could come to his assistance in fixing, well, the world. Back when humans were still on top of the food chain, long before the beings known as minecraftians had even surfaced, there were many a famine in their Earth. However, in these situations, the people tended to shift their priorities, rather than resolving the resounding issue. Perhaps going a little farther forward in this book would provide answer more appropriate to the time.

Quickly flipping about five-hundred pages ahead, he rediscovered something…marvelous. This article was recorded in 9999 AD of Earth, the last known year of its being referred to as such. Magic, fifty years prior to its recording, had finally been reintroduced for the first time since Medieval Times; this occurred in BULK, resulting in rapid evolution of many beings. Most notably had been the change in almost every animal on, what was then, Earth. These had moved from being on four-legs to two like that of an anthromorph, a majority of sea animals had developed a method of land movement via a serpent-like tail; these have been renamed to Naga as a general term. On top of their changes in appearance, almost all that have gone through the changes also were able to emulate speech of humans. Though, human was now for the most part an incorrect term to use, because they had also changed, though less than everything else. Humans became Minecraftians, just as their Earth became Minecraftia, when they all shot up in height with averages of 6'5" and 6'6". All had adjusted to a more athletic lifestyle; technology had taken a backseat since the reintroduction of magic, resulting in a lot less lounging and a much more direct approach to, well, everything really.

Using this knowledge, several assumptions were made on what could be happening. After all, what is a solution with a problem?

The first, and most likely to be true, was that everything was using up the magic in the world just by existing and going about life. With a drastic decline in technology and its prevalence in daily happenings, many more are going about actions themselves with magic in tow to discover, create, or solve. This brings about a drain, and could be a reason for the lack of magic. Though this would present no way of being solved, it would also mean that Minecraftia would find a way to recollect it.

Second was that someone, or a group of people, were being selfish and harvesting the magic for themselves and their own needs. Though simple in nature, it was entirely possible, and decently easy to solve. If it did happen, all they would have to was take it back, and the world could go back to its prior state.

There was quite a thorough session of thought after this. He struggled to come up with any other reasons why this magical drought may be occurring. And then, he remembered…_**it.**_ He shuddered and disregarded the thought, pushed it to the back of his mind, and went to rejoin his friends.

As Balthazor arrived upstairs, he noticed something different. There was an air of accomplishment as if someone had achieved something that would prove to be useful. "Hello, Balthazor. Did you discover any useful information on your venture downstairs?" This voice came from literally nowhere. It was as if the voice of Notch were being projected to him, however it was not being projected to just him, for everyone else showed registration of this voice in their minds. "Who said that?" Balthazor asked. "Well, actually, it was Compound. He finally got down speech, though not in the usual sense." "I am projecting my voice through the air using the magic in my body. Essentially, I am speaking telepathically." The Compound was designed without any vocal chords, mouth, nose; it really had no need for them, being a mechanical object. Balthazor never predicted him to be knowledgeable enough to emulate speech using telepathy. To tell the truth, he had expected him to be an order-obeying laborer, though this was an especially welcome surprise. "Well, while that comes as a… shock, yes, I did find some useful info. I've brought down the potential problems to a number of two…well, actually three, however I will only share the third if it needs to come to light. We can hold a meeting tomorrow on the subject. I still need to think all of it over and verify that there are no other foreign possibilities. I will let you know tomorrow morning, and we can meet back here." Upon saying this, he retreated to his quarters to turn in for the night ahead. There would be much thought and consideration on the topic. He had also acknowledged that he pulled an obnoxious bluff with the consideration of "foreign possibilities", that must have been a subconscious ploy at easily introducing the third scenario. He really hoped it wasn't what would end up becoming reality, however the more he considered it, the less there was room for it being fiction. He also developed a pit in his stomach at the thought. Once again pushing the thought to the recesses of his brain, he sat at his table and thought.

_**Upstairs**_

"Well, that was short lived." Nick said "Mhm" reassured Bailey with curiosity on tongue. While the two were concerned more with the past, Gribbles was concerned more for the future. What concerned him the most was the existence of a third potential in this case of theirs. He knew Balthazor too well to throw the thought aside that he was worried, and that worry reciprocated in Gribbles as a clenched fist. It was a bad thing for Balthazor of all people to be worried over much of anything, and without the knowledge of what Balthazor's situations were, Gribbles had no way of reassuring himself that everything would be fine.

"He seemed off" echoed The Compound's thoughts. "He usually carries himself about a confident chest, firm step, and attentive eye. He only contributed in this case with attentiveness." "He certainly seemed worried about something, but our brewing upon it will get us nowhere. The only way we will find out anything about anything is if we wait for tomorrow to come. Then we will see what it brings. Compound, I would say you're fine in staying at my place for the night until you have consistent bedding." It was with that the group finally disbanded, leaving tomorrow as tomorrow.


	6. Chapter 6: Brief Glimpses

Chapter 6

In the morn, the group rejoined for their briefing on the subject of the world dying around them. Conditions had not improved any overnight; the sky continued to gray, plants withered and animals thinned.

"Alright all, I have taken the time to brew on our issue, and I have finalized the details. I have concluded that we have three potential scenarios to tackle. None of them are necessarily easy to confront, however most should not prove too much for us to handle. Our first presents itself in the form of an individual, or group thereof, that are siphoning magic from the world to use to their gain. In this scenario our objective is to eliminate the supposed individual, or group thereof, and redistribute the magic accordingly. Secondly, there is the possibility that this is a natural occurrence, it has happened before so it would not be entirely out of key. Granted that this is our issue, it proves the path of least resistance best to take, this same thing happened in Medieval Earth Days and has proven itself to be a self-solving problem."

He paused to collect his thoughts, and as he prepared to explain in detail their third sequence, Nick's ear made a twinge.

"Hey… did anyone else just hear a screech?"

This brought alert to the faces of the pentad. Though it was bedding upon Balthazor's face, no surprise followed in contrast to the other beings of flesh.

"It sounds like it came from the wyvern pen!" Nick half-yelled this, barking into the sound registry of Compound and the ears of Bailey; Balthazor, in response, dashed toward the stairs leading into the pens of the wyvern.

To have an issue such as this was incredibly worrying for the only entrance not requiring insane physical strength were the stairs set in the top of the mountain. The screams were finally audible to all except Nick, who was now experiencing noticeable pains from their intensity in his ears of heightened capability. In the time of two minutes that it took to reach the pen, the screeches ceased with a final roar, leaving in their place a silence rivaling that of an ancient graveyard.

The sight to behold upon reaching the nesting was disturbing to even the solidified eyes of Balthazor and the emotionally blank of The Machine. Every wyvern that was to be there was present, except for one. Of those who remained, only the largest showed signs of calm with these being exceptionally well concealed by those of its fear. The pen connected to an overlook of the valley under this mountain, these Crude Caves. Upon entrance, the five captured a glance of a being retreating out of the opening. No one was able to analyze it well enough to get any details, however upon readjusting their vision no one was left with an easy stomach.

Before them lay Balthazor's Vladimir, drained of all its life as if he had taken his vampire fangs to it. The skin was an empty cast, looking like that of a balloon that had been inflated and left to deflate upon release. A gash in the tummy signified that Vladimir was left to bleed out, however there is no possibility that a bleed out could result in what happened to him; there was literally nothing left under skin excluding bone that could support it structure, as if whatever murdered him took it's very essence of life with it. This would also explain the lack of color in the fallen skin, replaced was the red with a lifeless gray like that of the sky. Its face amplified the setting before them. While it was shown to be ready to strike, it was posed like that of a child with their arm twisted behind their back. It showed powerlessness, unlike anything a wyvern in a case otherwise would display.

Balthazor's face was an amalgamation of shock, confusion, intrigue, and worry. Worry seemed to be the relative theme of the past few days; however he did not know why it took him in such a grasp now over any other time. Through all of the confusion, however, illumination shone its way in his mind. No longer did he have doubts of their situation, no longer was there this mist of doubt, he knew exactly what they were about to get in to, what caused it, and that this was not going to be an easy path. He now wished he had gotten to explain while there was calm the third option. _**It **_had come back for them, and it was their entire fault. _**It**_ deserved not mercy, nor was it to display any. They had to prepare, elsewise they would all be consumed just as Vladimir and as the world that would follow in the wake of this revelation. Conflict was now unavoidable, and worst of all, they had about three days before they were all hunted down.


	7. Chapter 7: Verified Threats

Chapter 7

Balthazor, with haste, organized his group to his place. Bringing along the slain wyvern, all would soon learn of their coming test.

"Alright, this situation has gotten much darker much faster than I had expected it to, so I'm going to cut to the chase with this one; this chase may take a little while though, quite a bit of backstory to go through. Bailey, I would like you to go get the blueprints for _**Alpha **_and _**Beta**_; bring them back here while I give the guys the general situation. If you need, I will inform you upon return." Bailey gave this a simple nod and left to his quarters.

"Ben, if there are any holes that I leave open, feel free to fill them in. Now, before our discovery of…this" he gestured to the wyvern "we assumed that there were three potential outcomes to the problem of the world's magic being consumed. However, the first two have been thrown out the window with this murder. It is obvious we are dealing with an individual whose combat abilities are enough to slay a wyvern and removing all semblance of internal structure except for the skeletal system. When we came across the body, everything but the skeleton was emptied from Vladimir. The slash marks through its ventral region have given me no doubt that the individual to charge with the murder is a being that we created. This being, codenamed Alpha and never further nicknamed, is a being that was to be used as an energy bank, if you will. If it complied with us, we would have been able to use it as a reserve of magic in the case that it was needed for any granting emergency situation. Alpha was created in the form of a bear, a brown bear specifically. It would collect energy through its claws, and mouth whenever it consumed something. However, we failed to see that giving it a Heart of Fire caused it to get aggressive with us when it came to life. It was able to tap into the power of the Nether with the heart, and nearly killed us. Bailey managed to hit its emergency shutoff switch and we disposed of that thing as far away from us as possible. Evidently it found a way to switch itself back on, which would explain why it is all of a sudden that the magic is being taken."

"But, how could it be that Alpha is the sole reason for the disappearance of the magic? After all, it really is just one being; how could it cause immortal plants to die and skies to gray?"

Gribbles asked this with true wonder, for it was quite the perplexing situation. The ability for one being to be effectively killing the world merely by its existence is quite the feat, and would appear to most unconquerable. Balthazor is not one of the most.

"Well, you must consider that we did make Alpha and Beta with the exact same materials, we just designed them differently. After we got rid of Alpha, we recollected the needed items and made Beta. I must say, it did end up going better, didn't it?"

"Yea, but that doesn't answer my question. How is Alpha managing to do all of this on his own?"

"It is designed to be a magical storage unit, essentially. The reawakening alone more than likely used a lot of magic straight from the planet because it's not a magical creature; therefor it is essentially borrowing it and not giving it back. On top of this, given that the ability is present for the consumption of magic through the claws, and that the Heart of Fire created hostility towards US, there is little doubt that it has been hunting and killing anything that it comes across. With that much consumption, there is a chance that it has become a "magic magnet" if that makes sense; just taking in the magic from the planet by being alive."

As he finished describing how Alpha went about its leeching of the world's magic, Bailey came back with blueprints in hand. He was covered in grease, as he usually was when he left his den of technology. Where Gribbles was an expert on old fashioned technologies, what most would consider too outdated to be of any use but he considered a blessing in hidden by innovations, Bailey took pride in being ahead of the game with the most innovative technology known to the public; though he did often keep some of these hidden from the public, after all, the best must be saved for himself. The grease was splotched along his face in small dots, and firmly covered his green jacket and blue jeans. There was black a midst his blonde hair and upon the badge he wore his left collar, the badge was a purple wrench with crystal in the head; he wore his green goggles as to avoid getting any grease in his eyes.

"Alright guys, I've got the blueprints. Did I miss anything important?"

"Not really, I think he was just getting to the super important stuff." Answered Nick in an informative voice.

"Yes, you are right; the true importance will come from the plans at hand. Given that Alpha is strong enough to be taking energy passively from the planet; I suppose we'll have about…three days."

"Three days to do what?" asked Bailey.

"Three days to prepare ourselves to combat it. I know for a fact that it will come to us being hunted by Alpha until one finds the other. Since this is inevitable, it would be best to brush up on our abilities. Besides, we need to get Beta fight ready as well; there are many things left inactivated on it that we will need to show it how to use."

"Uhm, quick question… Who is Beta? I've never heard of him before." Nick asked.

"Having taken evaluations from this discussion, most likely it is I who is being referred to as 'Beta'. I can also infer that this is due to my being composed of the same materials as this being 'Alpha'. I scanned the blueprints that Bailey has in his possession."

The Compound was still unrecognizable for its telepathic communication, it sounded as monotone echoes to the other four.

"That, Compound, is why you are not being referred to as Beta anymore; however you are right, you are beta. We will not be referencing you as Beta because you surpassed Alpha in, well… You're more of a person than most people are, even though you are artificial."

"I can suppose that is one of your emotional evaluations taking effect. Very well then, I shall accept terminology other than 'Beta' as a reference to my being."

"Of course, you could always use some improvements, but they will come along with time. Now, as for training…"


	8. Chapter 8: Secrets Unlocked

Chapter 8

The plan was to train in preparation for the conflict with Alpha, and the training regimen seemed simple. Over the course of three days, The Machine was to take training from the three primary fighters of the group; these were Balthazor, Nicholas, and Gribbles. Each seemed to have a "specialty" in combat or in life generally. While the machine was being trained by one, Bailey would be trained by the other two. Though he did not entirely need it, Bailey could still use some advanced techniques taught to him.

The first to tutor The Compound would be Nick. This massive beast was the one whom The Compound was unable to examine, unable to determine him as a threat or not; it supposed that this would be the time to evaluate.

"Alrighty, so while Balthazor and Gribbles are with Bailey, you and I will be working together. So, you have no fighting experience whatsoever?"

"This would be correct" projected the machine. Since it has learned to use its thoughts as a means of speech, The Creation seemed to gain a slightly more…personal personality. Its sentences took on a more dynamic structure to the very formulaic ones that it would compose before.

"Well, I guess it's a good thing they sent you to me first; without hand to hand experience you wouldn't make it too far. Let's start with your stance. Since you haven't really written anything yet, it'd be useless to ask you what hand is your dominate, so just go ahead and put your left leg like this…"

Through the day the two trained, Nick got technique practice in and The Compound received a basis on which to expand its close quarters combat.

"Nick, are you ready to give him up yet? You've spent the majority of the day training." This voice was Balthazor, and when Nick shifted his glance he saw Bailey not too far behind.

"Yea, I'm almost done. I would like to get a good hit in though." Nick readied his stance against the already worn training dummy, calming himself, he forced a punch to the dummy, and within the second it detonated.

"Alright, now that you have a ground in hand-to-hand combat we can start showing you the fun stuff; Bailey, go ahead and unlock the tendrils."

"Are you sure, it is rather soon to have it using something that advanced…"

"Yes, I'm sure, just go ahead!" There was excitement in this; he must have really enjoyed this.

Bailey walked behind The Machine, and after carefully orienting his hands went in to strike at its back. With the way he did it, a glow occurred on the back and out sprouted tentacles. They did not look solid, but they were certainly physical objects able to be touched. They appeared as solid light.

"You should be able to control them like any other limb, just mind of their sizing. They're about two inches in diameter and about 6 feet long. Now, Bailey, I will leave you to the explanation of their function. I need to go give Nick and Gribbles someone to spar with."

"Well, now that we have some room to breathe, I suppose now is never when it comes to those things' purpose. As you know, you are the second in line of what was supposed to be one robot that we would be using on our future missions together. On top of being sentient, the project was aimed to be an energy storage initiative. However, the energy in this case was magic. When we designed Alpha, because of our oversight with the Heart of Fire, it turned on us. We can assume that it has changed quite a bit since it reawakened itself; this is because of the ability to take in energy that we implanted. That would also be why we are having the problem with low magic in the world. We kept this ability in you; however we changed the source of the ability. In Alpha, it will take in energy from its claws it is the damage it inflicts that allows it to absorb the energy, abilities, and other such things of what it is attacking. It also permanently keeps all that it absorbs, except for the energy or magic it takes, but it still has the storage ability. In you because of the turning prior, we took multiple security measures to ensure that you would not be able to harm us or anyone else without knowledge of just what it is you're doing. We gave you time to learn right from wrong before we granted your abilities. The first of these will be the use of your tendrils. You take and absorb energy, powers, etc. by being in contact with something. While your method of doing so is easy, as soon as the link is broken, the changes in both parties begin to falter."

Many things had been discovered after this exposition. The Compound's capabilities, in one fell swoop, had been expanded to lengths it never knew possible. It learned that with these tendrils it could copy the abilities of other beings just their being in contact with the tendrils, as well as being able to split the energy of the target at will and leeching this energy into The Machine. There were non-combat purposes to these tendrils as well; movement, memory tapping, life-support functions such as defibrillation are some of the options available. Though The Machine was eager to move to the next lesson, the night was nigh, and there was still something to be granted…


	9. Chapter 9: Ambushed in the dying woods!

Chapter 9

At the end of their day's work, the group of five retreated to a favorite tavern in the town of Blue Cove on the outskirts of the city of Ocelot. Blue Cove was named aptly for the large amount of water and grass that resided. Though the group chose not to indulge themselves in brew, they did not falter in making this place one of their favorite residences. They often came to relax, get away from all that was at home, though they never ventured into Ocelot.

"So guys, what are the thoughts on Alpha?" Bailey asked.

"I thought we agreed to let that go for the night. We should focus on the lighter side of life for now; if we get too bogged up we might plant the seeds of worry." Gribbles responded.

"Well, before we abandon the subject of darkness, has anyone seen that guy at the bar?"

The person in Nicholas' reference wore a human look, an average red jacket and worn jeans; hair slicked back and a handsome face, he must have been human for he looked to be about 5' 11" tall. Humans were much shorter than other Minecraftians, a distinction that often gave them nothing but trouble. This man held a wild look in his dark eyes, as if he were holding back the urge to jump on anyone who happened to be in his way.

"Excuse me sir, may I see your alcohol license?" asked the man behind him.

"Holy crap guys, that's the Police Chief of Ocelot! What is he doing in some small tavern on the outskirts of the city?"

"Perhaps he is out abusing more of the civilians. That IS one of his things, after all." Gribbles responded to Bailey acridly. "At least, that is how he was when I was in the force. I know that he wouldn't let me advance at all because I wasn't human."

"It would appear that he's a very racist individual." Luckily, The Compound learned to lower the volume it projected its voice at. This man in reference was also human, 5'10", much shorter than even Bailey at 6'2". Bailey, being an Elven Human, is taller than other humans but shorter than Minecraftians like Gribbles and Balthazor, and exceptionally shorter than The Machine at 6'8" modeled after an enderman.

"I don't need to show you any license I.D. crap, copper."

"I would recommend you watch your language when talking to me, you wouldn't want to come under _shock_." With this, the chief activated his rather large stun baton. It had to have been at least 3 feet long, the length of a blade on a sword.

"Alright, alright, I don't want any trouble here. Besides, you wouldn't want to fight me."

"Awfully cocky for a homeless looking man, would you like to prove yourself to me in the Arena?"

"There's no purpose of me going into the Arena. It would serve as no challenge."

"What is this arena he refers to?" projected The Machine.

"The Arena is Ocelot's prison for the worst of the worst. Those condemned to death are, rather than being executed, put to the Arena to fight until the end of their days. It's pretty similar to the Colosseum of Roman Earth Days. The matches are all man versus man, no wild beasts anymore. The crowds enjoy it more, brings in a lot of revenue for the city."

"I'll ask you again, please, can I see your alcohol license?"

"Fine, here."

"Hmph, even though this looks dodgy, I'll allow you to pass. Say, how about you slip me 500 while you're at it?"

"Now why would I need to give you gold? You know that you have a higher currency than the Mayor; besides, in your belief system greed is one of the seven deadly sins. Also acquainted is lust, though you aren't committing to it as you usually do, Barrett."

"YOU, impudent little wretch, you'll regret that!" With the charge of the stun baton, the Wild Eyed Man spoke;

"It would be wise of you not to strike me Barrett, for violence only begets death. By the way, it isn't I who would be on the receiving end of the death penalty. As such, I would recommend you deactivate the baton and leave the building. If you feel the need to die at such a young age, then by all means, _strike me._" The Wild Eyed Man stared down Barrett with daggers in his eyes. With a begrudging look on his face, Police Chief Barrett deactivated and put away his baton. Leaving the building, he took a quick glance to the group of five, paying longer devotion to Gribbles, obviously recognizing him; he also looked back toward the Wild Eyed Man, with hate seething through.

"Well, that was quite the situation wasn't it? Is he always like that Gribbles?" asked Nick.

"No, he isn't always like that. If he was in his normal state of mind, he would have slammed that baton down upon that man much earlier; though, I am surprised most that he didn't do it at all. That man must have made quite the impression on him, that's unusual."

"Well, I think we should leave before we have to clean up someone else's mess. We have enough on our hands to worry about other people starting things." Balthazor said in a matter of fact tone, and it was a matter of fact.

Retreating from the scene at the tavern, the pentad marked a path back home through whence they came; a wide range of woods that had succumb noticeably to the effects of drained magic. Trees rotted, animals were sparse as was water, and it fell apart as they walked. About halfway home, Nick paused behind the group. About 100 yards away, Nick could have sworn he saw a set of red eyes peering at the group. As soon as he had registered their existence, it was gone. Confused, Nick reset himself to the path the others had forged, playing a game of catch up.

"Hey guys, I think I saw something looking at us back there."

"Oh, don't worry; nothing has the ability to live here. Maybe it's just an owl."

Reassured, Nick followed the others on the way home. About three-fourths of the way there, he saw the eyes again, and stayed to investigate. This time, however, they did not flee. They remained and moved through the dying trees, and then disappeared. By this time, the group had made their way much farther ahead, not seeing that Nick had stopped again. A quick swish of the felled trees and their limbs, and Nick was pounced on.

"AAAAAAAAAARGHHHHHHH!" The scream brought the group to a halt.

"What the hell was that?" asked Balthazor. "I don't know, but where is Nick?" asked Gribbles.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGHHHHHH!" With the second scream, Balthazor, Bailey and Gribbles sprinted in its general direction. The Compound was left bewildered at all of these actions taking place at once, for it was too much for the inexperienced machine to process.

By the time The Compound's CPU caught up, the group was already out of sight. Taking memory of where the noises came from, it ran to catch up. It could hear noises as it approached, all of what seemed to be pain. At the point it could see action in the distance, it stopped. Something ahead had an exceptionally strong magic presence, rivaling even that of Balthazor; continuing on, The Compound saw an item in the air. With wings and a blaster, it registered the being as Bailey. Within the instant that he saw Bailey in air, something was thrown at Bailey mid-flight. With protection protocol engaged, he used his tendrils to catch Bailey and the projectile. He discovered the projectile was Balthazor, and paused to take in the information.

"God damn, that…thing…" Balthazor was drifting away from consciousness. While he was in the tendrils, however, The Machine began to share its energy with the two.

"Compound" Bailey said, "You have to help…Gribbles and Nick. Up there…they're being attacked by….I don't even know what it is anymore. You have to do something, I cannot guide you on what it is, but you need to help them…"

The CPU took time to process everything that was going about; however, The Compound itself noticed something different. As he held these two in the tentacles, he felt Bailey's knowledge on technology arising within him. Though it was not quite to the extent of Bailey himself, it was enough to give The Machine an idea.

"God, this thing won't give up. Nick, QUIT ATTACKING IT!" Gribbles yelled as Nick went tooth and nail with the beast.

A blunt smash of the arm sent Nick flying into multiple trees, incapacitated. As Gribbles made his rush at the beast, he noticed his flaw. With his track, he would be in the direct line of the creature's claw, and there was now no way to avoid it. The beast's claw was on its way down.

_wrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr_

With this noise, the creature halted and dashed back. Across Gribbles' face flew a purple projectile, purposefully missing him and landing in a tree 2 yards to his east. Both investigated the object thrown, however, just as they got a glimpse it disappeared. The mark in the tree was still there, so it was no illusion, thought Gribbles.

"_**So, you're the one they've been calling Alpha."**_


	10. Chapter 10: Clash! Alpha vs Beta

Chapter 10

"_**So, you're the one they've been calling Alpha."**_

Gribbles recognized the voice immediately. It was the projected thoughts of The Compound. Coming from behind, he walked ahead of Gribbles immediately in front of Alpha and halted. In his hands were two objects appearing as stars, each star segment gravitating around an ender pearl. The star component looked to be something like Bailey's hard light wings and goggles.

"Compound…is that a hard light weapon system you have? Did Bailey give them to you?" "No, he is currently incapacitated with Balthazor; it would appear that Nicholas has taken quite the beating as well."

"Yea, I did what I could, but…"

"Go" The Machine said ordering.

"W-What?"

"I said go, go to Ocelot, Blue Cove, wherever. Get Police Chief Barrett and bring him back here. I will deal with my predecessor."

"Are you sure, he is insanely strong and..." "The more time you spend talking to me about why I should not combat Alpha is more time you allow the three to pass into the other world. Go, now!" With this, he sheathed his rapier and sprinted on all fours in the direction of Barrett.

"What are you, small one?" Alpha spoke in a booming, haunting voice.

"I am your newer version. You are known as Alpha to your creators, and to this point, I. I regret to say this brother, however, your existence here must end."

"Oh, you declare it so? What makes you think that you hold a candle to me? I am larger, stronger, have absorbed much magical power and have essence of the Nether with me."

"It's not that I hold any candles to you, however, I need to do what I must to defend my creators and the world they live in. That is my primary directive, as it should be yours as well."

The Compound ceased from this point all conversation with Alpha. Readying himself in a combat stance, he gave a quick rotation to the ender pearl in hand and along with it the hard light stars spun. Alpha initiated. The large bear mecha gave a sprinting step to close the distance. Alpha had on his arms, and connected to his chest tendrils similar to those of Beta; however, they could not be used freely. They must have been used in the form of energy management discussed by Balthazor. Mimicking its brother, The Compound wrapped the tendrils from his back over shoulders, swirling along to its hands. With this, the energy from the Spark of Life began to empower the arms, and bracing from impact with Alpha held them out in a counter-ready position. Alpha had grown to massive size since ambushing Nick, leading to the conclusion that the energy gathered quickly and attributed quicker.

The punch that Alpha gave would have been enough to break Nick's arm up to the shoulder had it been him fighting Alpha. Though it did not cause excessive injury, the Ender Stars acted as a breaker for the hit and flung across the yard. Panicking, The Compound teleported to the discarded star avoiding the god strength blow; as Alpha made contact with the ground, the crater made was easily the size of one of Nick's smaller blasts.

"Hmm, you are quite slippery aren't you? It will be no matter; hiding behind those weapons of yours will do you no long term good."

"I can see that. Very well then, shall we box brother?" "Oh, WE SHALL!"

Gaining a crazed look, Alpha made yet again another charge. The Compound placed the ender pearls used in the Ender Stars in his shoulders, and readied a fight stance. There would be no avoiding him. The only option that would work would be going hand to hand, using his much smaller size to get off shots to the body. Alpha was within five feet, and as he came in, The Compound met his fist. The air distorted at the action, giving way to the strength of the two individuals. They traded blows like this for several minutes, the ground and grass around them shaking and blowing with each blast of air erupted from intercepted blows. The Compound knew there would be no tiring in either of the combatants, and in recognition of this began to take the offensive. The nucleus of energy began moving about, shifting with each movement of the fighters' feet; several trees had been broken by some blows missed. Beta took a small form and evaded a right hook from Alpha, and with this began retaliation. Multiple jabs and hooks to the body shook Alpha hardly given his massive figure; however the room was there to make something of this. With a stunning blow given The Compound teleported behind The Ancestor, floating in the air for fractions of a second enough to give a fierce kick to the side of the head where the temples would be on a human. This created a stagger enough to warrant using weaponry to try and finish the fight. Taking out the pearls and recreated the Ender Stars, a rotation allowed Beta to begin carving through Alpha, and the damage was recognizable. Even, however, with all of this injury that would have ended a fleshy beings' existence Alpha never ceased in assault. Unlike Beta, Alpha held no remarks to injury or fear, and would keep coming until death gripped him. Teleporting to the same position in which the kick was delivered, The Compound threw his right star into The Ancestor's back and did a repulsing kick to retreat. However, Alpha had the instinct to land a crushing blow in the center of Beta's chest, immediately where his Spark lies.

The attack sent Beta flying, giving initiative to demolish the newer copy before it could recover. Alpha jumped on the opportunity literally, taking a squat position and launching into the air. As much as The Compound could see while in flight was the figure of Alpha in the air getting ready to land on him with all of his weight. The figure in the sky was brown, and from the center of his chest outward sprung tendrils attached to the body that were used to spread the energy gathered in the middle of the chest outward. More than likely, he would send the majority of this energy to the legs just before impact to maximize damage inflicted. Something would have to be done about that system of energy management; otherwise this fight would not end up in Beta's favor.

Alpha then dropped from the sky as a four-hundred pound weight would, gaining speed for every nanosecond of air time had. The nether star had managed to remain in Alpha's back for the time in the air, and would provide the only means of escape providing any advantage for Beta. Alpha was gaining speed on descent, and action would have to be taken fast to avoid being broken to bits by this meteor above. Without the ender pearls being in the shoulders, Beta had no means of free teleportation; that is, he was reliant on the position of his Ender Stars to do so, and he could only teleport to their place. Teleporting to the Ender Star in Alpha's back, Beta ripped it out and gave a kick to the back to boost Alpha's uncontrollable speed; he also gave a rotation that would not be able to be set correct by the time of landing, so Alpha had no choice but to take a lot of damage from the fall. Landing face first into the ground, Alpha bounced with contact with the ground.

No movement came from the other side of the field for quite some time, with the bounce came a crook in the neck of Alpha, body damaged, and eyes still.

"I suppose…that it is…finally over…" Limping, broken, and tired, Beta turned to Bailey and Balthazor and began walking. Suddenly, he was put in a burning grip by the neck. Alpha had come back around and was making use of hellfire in the claws to gradually take Beta down.

"Now, little one….before you can do anything more to me….I am going to BREAK YOUR FUCKING NECK!" The claws were beginning to eat through The Compound's metal; if they kept at this rate he would be beheaded.

"You are certainly strong brother…but I hate to inform you that I am the more dangerous one here…"

With this Beta began to wrap his tendrils around the neck of The Ancestor. Each tendril wrapped around the neck four times, providing excellent grip and power, and with this Alpha began to be lifted off of the ground. By the time it could react, it was too late; he was on his way to being slammed into the ground, again, head first. And head first he went, making a crater the size of a creeper's explosion. He quickly got up however, and within the minute he was back on the offensive. Slashing and kicking, Alpha tried to catch Beta, though to no avail. Beta saw no end to this battle in sight; Alpha just would not back down, and with no sense of pain he would not have a reason to stop unless his existence was ended.

This brought an idea to The Compound's head, but there was going to be difficulty in execution. There were a few options, Beta could just go ahead and carve Alpha into pieces until he quit functioning, but that would take too long and in that time he may take in more magic and be undefeatable. Alternatively, he could go directly for the kill; though the problem presents itself in its execution.

"I'm going to finish this, Beta, PREPARE YOURSELF!"

Alpha opened its mouth wide, and fire engulfed the fangs. This was going to have to work; otherwise, it would be Beta that got ended here. As Alpha stretched for the crunch, The Compound threw a tendril down Alpha's throat, and he halted; he had also wrapped the extra tendril around his right arm.

"Alpha, I must say, this was quite the interesting experience. Fighting my brother, learning so much about my abilities…It has been all sorts of fun. However, I have to end it. Maybe…maybe you can come back some day as a kinder being. Goodbye, brother."

Alpha was being controlled from the inside out, so no efforts were made to stop The Compound from finishing the job. It wound up a punch from behind the back, and sent a cross punch through the chest. It went immediately through the heart, finally putting an end to the fight.

**A/N: YAY, first fight! I hope you all enjoyed reading it as much as I did writing it, I'll get chapter 11 to you all as soon as possible. Should be a decent increase in activity once that comes around!**


	11. Chapter 11: Rebirth and The Executioner

Chapter 11

Before him lay his brother, met just this day. He had to be the one to end it, surely with his brother downed the magic would return to the world; however, a voice rang behind him that brought The Machine back to reality.

"Hey, you're not done yet!" The Compound turned to see the speaker.

It was none other than Balthazor, who had been used as a projectile by Alpha in their fight.

"Bailey and I have recovered during your fight, I even got to see a little bit of it; I must say you're better than I thought you would be. However, we have yet another problem on our hands. Look." Alpha looked like life had been given back. However, it wasn't moving of its own accord. Out of the chest, where the holes from the cross punch of Beta laid, burst energy in massive spurts.

"If we leave him like that, all of your work to save the area would go to waste. He'll explode at this rate, and it will be much larger than anything Nick could make. I understand that this is going to be a lot for the CPU to process, but have you any ideas Beta, I mean, Compound?" It was true, this was a lot for the CPU to process, however the answer was clear to Beta. Just as he had used the tendrils of his back to defeat Alpha, now he must use them to solve the new threat.

"I do have an idea; however, you will need to be ready to keep me alive."

"Why do I need to keep you alive? Just what are you planning?"

"I am going to connect myself to Alpha and to the ground. When the energy is ready to come out, I'll act as a – what do you call it – a lightning rod? I will process the energy to the ground where it will go back to the planet. I also believe that this will quickly cure the issues caused by his taking of the magic."

"But, you'll get fried if you try anything like that. There must be some other way!" The desperation in his voice was unusual, noted The Machine.

"There is always another way. As you noted, we can simply let him explode, if you wish." There was no joking in the projection, but that was going to be the only other option.

"HEY GUYS, I'VE BROUGHT BARRETT!"

The voice was Gribbles', and was one stern in nature.

"He's a little while behind, but he's brought a few police officers with him. Wha-" He looked to see Alpha taken down, with multiple holes through the chest.

"Just answered my own question… What are we about to do?"

"Gribbles, I would like you to get Nick and Bailey on their feet. Balthazor and I are going to take care of the situation in front of us."

"Gotcha, I'm on it." As Gribbles went to collect the two, The Compound unraveled the tendril around his arm and jabbed the ground.

"Balthazor, get ready to the energy that goes through me; if we leave too much room for error, all of this work will have gone to waste." Pulling out a wand, Balthazor gave a nod as if to say "go ahead, I've got you".

The Compound began taking in the erupting energy from Alpha's soon to be husk of a body, and with it Balthazor linked himself to The Machine; both exhibited a glow, with a beam of energy coursing from the tip of the wand. Though Beta showed signs of injury, attributing from both the death match with Alpha and the inconceivable amount of energy going through him, it was able to withstand it much more than if it were being done by his will alone. As the energy went through to the ground, the results came to be noticeable almost immediately; the broken trees from the conflict began to sprout anew, flowers bloomed, and even the sky took on a slightly new hue. Signs of exhaust became prevalent as the process wore on, however the results would be well worth a tired night.

With a sputter and puff the job was done, and none could be happier than Balthazor, being one who truly understands the good that will come about. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the short man named Barrett approaching the scene. Judging from his skin, he had taken no rush in getting here, more than likely not deeming it an emergency to help a group of people he knew as "freaks". He carried with him his stun baton readied at his right side.

"What happened here? Did you boys get a little too much to handle?" asked the chief, with a cocky tongue.

"I regret to inform you sir; however the fight was one not to be lost. Though quite the fight was put up, it was not one to break my limitations. I also believe that given the same scenario, the others would have been able to complete the assignment as I had done."

"Well, don't you think yourself high? I think myself as being the only one here worthy of having fought the thing, and you already took care of it. Oh well, I suppose I can take the body; after all, it's only right that the one who should have killed it receives the spoils, yes?"

"I'm going to have to intervene with you there Barrett. He fought the battle and won, therefor the right to the finished product is entirely his; besides, that thing is our property." Gribbles stated orderly.

"Oh, so you are the ones truly responsible for the destruction it caused huh? It would figure you freaks want to get back at the normal people."

"Before you try to fine us or something, there are no damages, so please don't waste time."

"I won't. I also won't attempt to take that carcass from you. Thing would be useless to the best scientists in the city of Ocelot, and none of you are close to being best. However I would like you, Gribbs, to come back to the force. No one has been able to quite take your place since you retired" said Barrett sarcastically.

"I'll pass Barrett, but you may see us around the city if we decide to walk about. Have you and your lackeys cleaned it up any?"

"You know those freaks don't deserve riches. Don't act like your kind are deserving of it. The regulars are living how they should: pampered, prepped, and on the high ground whereas your kind live where they need to be; in the ghettoes and slums. Now, circus-runaways, I have business to attend to where I can speak without being conspired against." He began to walk away, and then turned back to the group. "Oh, by the way, a fair piece of advice; don't wander the city at night. There have been many cases of murder when the sun goes down. No reports have been made giving the assailant any identification. I would hate to see my favorite group of weirdoes executed by beheading." He performed an about-face and resumed transit back to the city. Though it was dusk, and the chief himself had said not to walk about at night, multiple passages existed through which he could traverse safely.

"What do you think is causing all of these so called murders in Ocelot guys?" asked Nick.

"I don't know. I wouldn't be surprised if it were assassinations made by agents of Barrett. He would be one to do that sort of thing." replied Gribbles bluntly.

"Whatever it is, we surely will want to investigate it. It would seem that trends from Ocelot expand to beyond the limits. We wouldn't want that thing coming around where we live and killing us. Though I think we should retire back to the caves for now. I am really tired after being hit with Balthazor." Spoke Bailey. The group gave a nod, and retreated to their home.


	12. Chapter 12: Re-arrivals and New Faces

Chapter 12

The day sun shone anew, with light renewed through the actions of yesterday. With the break of day, the pentad was free to make their advancement into the City of Ocelot. As they retraced their steps to the tavern where they first encountered Barrett with the Wild Eyed Man, the forest reflected what surely would have been the Garden of Eden. Passing the tavern itself, they see a man and woman being thrown out; surely this is because of an inappropriate public display of affection. The City of Ocelot, in many of districts and divisions, has exceptionally strict rules on PDA; Barrett, being one individual not so kind as to allow couples to solidify their bonds, keeps his all human upper-guardsmen on watch for small offenses such as this constantly. It is illegal by the first law code of Ocelot to discriminate general admission to any program due to race; however, it is left entirely to the head of the program to judge people on advancement in the hierarchy of the organization.

The primary gate into Ocelot is preceded by a grassy field. This is a very common area to have children playing in as a result of the exceptionally tall grass, and today was no exception. They looked like hunters in the three foot high grass, just as they acted like hunters in three foot high grass. The cheers, jeers, and laughs brought a smile to the faces of those who had a mouth to smile with in the pentad. Their smiles ceased, however, the minute they passed through the entrance. A jambalaya of rotten smells; sewage, rotten food, bodily fluids, all rushed the nostrils of the crew. It brought disgust to the faces of those who had any noses to breathe with, and forced a rush away from the area. This portion of the city itself was an exceptionally run down area, broken windows and tents littered the district. Alleys held in their look an invisible crime scene tape, boding viewers not to venture in their boundaries. The poverty held in its grasp the first three city sections the team had come across, each as equally horrid as the first. Passing into the next district, the group spotted a similar face in the distance. "Hey, look over there. Is that the guy from the tavern who had trouble with Barrett?" Nick asked.

It was he, the Wild Eyed Man who had a close encounter with Barrett over an alcohol license. He stood in front of the police station with the same crazed eyes, looking back at the building with disgust. He approached the group with his hands pocketed. "Hey, would you guys happen to know the Police Chief?" Spoke the man, eyes constantly moving and shifting about. "Not entirely too well" replied Gribbles "he tends to keep to himself from what I have observed of him." "Yea, is-is that right? Alright, alright, alright that's cool man. Hey, would you guys have any change to spa-spare?" His stutters gave way to knowledge of mental instability. "I suppose I have extra to spare. Would anyone else like to give?" Bailey offered and asked. Balthazor gave 3 pieces of gold. The Wild Eyed Man opened his jacket to reveal a burn on his left shoulder; it was a great burn, slightly warping the skin. It seemed confined however, as if he were branded with it. "Thanks, thanks, thanks folks. Hey, I gotta be out, got business t-to do, se-see?" With this the hyperactive man turned toward the center of town and began walking. Gribbles noticed the golden sword at his side.

"That's awfully strange isn't it?" "What is awfully strange, Gribbles?" The Compound projected. "It's the fact that that man has a golden sword. I mean, he's in a bad enough financial situation as to have to ask for gold in the first place; where would he have gotten the spare money to make one, and why a golden sword? They're just so weak, it's counter-productive." "Maybe it's not just another material object to him. It could have belonged to his father or something." "Yea, I guess so. Hey, do you guys think we should pick up a hotel room?" Gribbles added to his reply to Bailey. "I suppose so. We just got here and it's almost sun set. I know we won't want to be wandering after dark." "Hey, before we get to the hotel, shall we investigate this arena that you told us about, Gribbles?" Balthazor asked. "I guess so. We could get some food there, though I hope less that we run into Barrett."

The Arena was massive in size. Not counting spectator seating, it must have been 1000 feet long. Stands more than likely added 300 feet, with concessions taking up what is below seating. The entrance to the Arena was nothing like the entrance through which our group passed through; rather, it was pristine enough to cast light from the sun just less than halfway through the city. By the opening gate sat an elderly man, balding with a ragged brown cloth round his torso, along with a golden hammer sitting to his left. "Excuse me young ones, would you happen to have any gold to spare? Please, do not feel pressured to give me anything if you do not wish to, or simply cannot." The Elderly Man was exceptionally mannered. However, what was most strange about him was not no other people even paid him mind; it was as if he were invisible to all but the pentad. "I don't suppose there is any gold I'm in need of keeping, elderly one. Perhaps you can join us for a little bit at the Arena? It's on me if you come along." Balthazor took initiative to offer, and joy became the Elderly Man's eyes. "Why, thank you for the gold young one. Though I do avoid violence when it is possible, I suppose the minimum I can do in exchange for your generosity is to accept your company." Nicholas offered a hand to the Balding One. "Well then, let's hop on it! I think one of the matches is about to start, and I would really like to pick up some chips and peppers before we miss anything." With this the group, now numbering six, walked through the gate of the Arena.

"How about these seats guys, it would seem we have a pretty unobstructed view here." Bailey talked as he walked, pointing to seats at the topmost row opposite a large box seat." "Does anyone know who the first contestants will be?" The Compound projected blankly. "Not a clue. Hey, look over at that big seat, is that Barrett?" Indeed it was. Barrett was accompanied by what seemed to be some friends, as they chatted and joked along their way to the box seat. "Who's that bruiser by him?" Nick asked on top of his last question, he leaned over a railing immediately in front of him to try and get a closer look "I think I know who that is. That is Zachary Theron, Barrett's personally chosen bodyguard. He's been tagging alongside Barrett since before I entered the police force. Back when he and Barrett were just officers, everyone was convinced that he rather than Barrett would take the title of chief when time came for the then current chief to retire. No one is really sure of how Barrett got the title or why" Gribbles spoke a mile a minute, evidently excited in one way or another by Zachary's presence. "Was he supposed to be some sort of prodigy back when he was an officer? He doesn't initially come off as impressive. Looks rather average, actually." Balthazor said this bluntly. "I believe that one should not be judged by their immediate presentation, though it could be true that this person is not necessarily reliant on combat to get what they need to do complete." Spoke the Elderly Man gracefully. "ALRIGHT FOLKS, YOU HAVE WAITED LONG ENOUGH, LET'S BEGIN THE FIGHTS!" This voice boomed from about the Arena, excited for the beginning of the day's fights. "OUR FIRST FIGHT OF THE DAY! WE HAVE A GLADIATORIAL REGULAR, ARGOS CARLISLE! FACING OFF AGAINST THIS TITAN OF A MAN, IS….hey, where is this guys' name? Oh well, who cares…WE HAVE AN UNNAMED OPPONENT UP AGAINST ARGOS TODAY! WHAT A FIGHT IT WILL BE!"

Argos Carlisle walked with a swagger about him into the Arena, smirking with his weapon in tow. The weapon in question was a rather long staff, spiked at either end. Argos himself was as tall as an average Minecraftian, about 6'3". He was lean in build, looking to favor conditioning over outright strength.

The attention of our friends was not on Carlisle, however, as it was on his opponent. "Oh my…is that…" "That man we keep seeing?" Balthazor finished Bailey's sentence. "Who is this man you are referring to?" The Balding One asked. "It's the one in the red jacket. He has the golden sword going up against that big dude with the beating stick" said Nick to the Elderly Man. "Oh my, he does seem to be quite the scary individual… His aura is not a kind one." 'You can say that again" said Gribbles.

The competitors met eyes, and stopped about 50 yards from each other in the near center of the Arena.

"_**THE COMPETITORS HAVE ARRIVED!**_

_**WITH THIS, LET'S BRING ON THE DEATHMATCH!"**_


End file.
